phase of occupation are Jamdat Nasr to ED I (Cleuziou 1989 : 74 – 75 , pl. 22 ). Parallels
have been observed between the plano-convex mud-bricks of Hili 8 Phase IIa and those
of ED II Mesopotamia, though the excavator of Hili 8 considers the mud-bricks to
have been different in size, shape and arrangement (Cleuziou and Méry 2002 a: 197 ).
Attention must also be drawn to the striking similarities between the mud-brick
architecture of HD- 6 , Ras al-Hadd (eastern Oman) (Figures 30. 5 – 6 ), and the buildings
of Ubaid, Uruk and Early Dynastic Mesopotamia. The HD- 6 buildings exhibit the
classic tripartite construction pattern developed in Mesopotamia during and after the
Ubaid period, with a central hall flanked by around three side-rooms (Azzarà 2009 : figs
2 , 4 , 7 ; Strommenger 1980 : back inside cover; Postgate 1994 : 90 , fig 5. 2 ; van Driel 2002
fig. 1 ff ). Nothing like this has ever been recorded elsewhere in the region, though closer
examination of certain third millennium sites may change the picture; for examples
Amlah 4 , Andam 1 (Schreiber 1998 : Abb. 10 – 12 , 45 , 58 ). At HD- 6 the basic tripartite
units are slightly smaller than those found at the northern Uruk colonies (approx.
8 m x 8. 5 m, cf. approx. 11 m x 11. 5 m at Habuba Kabira), and an additional difference
is the extension of the central hall beyond the edges of the side-rooms.
The similarities are so great that it is unlikely to be coincidental, and although in
terms of scale the HD- 6 settlement is very small, and the artefactual inventory does not
indicate systematic and regular interactions with Mesopotamia (lacking seals, seal
impressions, tablets and having only rare Mesopotamian pottery), one has to ask
whether the similarities result from Mesopotamian influence or even demographic
input, albeit perhaps in previous generations.
The oasis-farming economy of the Oman Peninsula could not have arisen fully
formed at the time of its first archaeological attestation, at Hili 8 in the early third
millennium (period 1 b). At this time a suite of several types of wheat, barley, dates and
melon can be identified (Cleuziou 1989 : 79 – 80 ). The agricultural economy must have
undergone an earlier development in the Late Uruk or very early Jamdat Nasr period,
including the adoption of plant cultivars and agricultural techniques. Some of the most
important cultivars (wheat and barley) certainly originated in the north and are
thought to have been disseminated southwards down the eastern and western shores of
the peninsula (D. Potts 1994 : 239 ; Boivin and Fuller 2009 : 148 ). Even the date palm
–– Robert Carter ––cm not to scaleFigure 30.4Previously unpublished pottery of Jamdat Nasr to ED II date found in the Gulf. Left:
Marawah, Tomb MR- 6. 4. Right: Sabiyah, Tomb SBH- 17 (sketch from photograph, courtesy of
Sultan al-Duwish, National Museum of Kuwait)